Lost Futures
by Julia Claire
Summary: When someone dies, everyone else loses a part of his or her own future. A oneshot about the effect of Fred Weasley's death on his friends and family. I own nothing.


_Disclaimer: Anything you recognize isn't mine. It's J.K. Rowling's or else it's Warner Brothers'. _

_This story is dedicated to my cousin, who died way too young, just as Fred did. We weren't very close and I didn't know her very well, but that doesn't make it any less terribly sad and shocking. I wrote this because I couldn't stop thinking about all the things she will never be able to do._

Lost Futures

When someone dies, everyone else loses a part of his or her own future. Sometimes, these pieces are only half-planned, and no one realizes how truly precious and necesary they are until they become impossible.

Molly Weasley has always loved all her children with the ferocious passion of a mother bear. Nothing could ever change that, even the amount of mischief that Fred managed to create in his short life. He surpassed all of his siblings in that regard, even George. Molly often wished that she could go one day without worrying what trouble he is causing for her, his siblings, Hogwarts, or society at large. Now, the rest of her life is made up of only those days, thousands upon thousands of them, and it kills her inside.

Arthur Weasley has been shocking people all his life with a very simple sentence. "I have seven," he'd say, almost wearily, if anyone ever asked him how many kids he had. "Six boys and a girl." He hates that he can't say that anymore. He doesn't _have _seven any longer; he has six. He had another, once, but Fred slipped away. In a way, Arthur blames himself for his son's death. A father is supposed to be there for his children, to protect them, and he didn't. He failed. Of course, people have been telling Arthur that he is a failure all of his life, but this was the only time that he has ever believed it.

Bill Weasley cannot decide what to feel as he rubs his wife's swollen stomach. Growing up with six younger siblings, he has always loved little kids. He is ecstatic to be a father at last, at the same time lamenting that Fred will never get a be a father or even a living uncle. Bill will never be able to hand this child- or any of his future ones- over to Uncle Fred, with Fleur watching worriedly. Fred will never make his nieces and nephews laugh, show them his shop, or tell them stories of the pranks he pulled. Bill's kids will have to settle for their own father's stories of a younger brother, full of life and laughter, who died much too soon.

Charlie Weasley has always known why he got to be so good at Quidditch; it was all due to his brothers. Day after day during the summer, Charlie and four of his brother would troop out to the apple orchard to play Quidditch. Percy never wanted to play and Ginny was never allowed to, so they could never play a proper game. They made up their own version of Quidditch. Bill and George would always make up one team, with Charlie and Fred being the opposing one. The four of them would all be Chasers, but Bill and Charlie would double as Seekers and the twins as Beaters. Ron was designated as the all-time Keeper. (He'd occasionally complain about this, but as it was the only way they'd let him play with them at all, he usually dropped it fairly quickly.) It probably was a bit of a stupid way to play, as Fred and George never really mastered a way of holding both the Quaffle and their Beaters' bats at the same time, but Charlie never cared. He is convinced that their way was the best way to play Quidditch. He misses it now that it can never be played again. No matter how good Charlie is, he refuses to play without his Beater, and no one could ever replace Fred.

Percy Weasley will never get to tell Fred how much he missed him in those last two years. He will never admit to Fred how often he wished for noise in his tiny, silent flat. When Percy entered the Room of Requirement and ran smack into his whole family, he almost turned around and headed straight back out into the tunnel. Fred was the reason he didn't, in the end. His younger brother, after nineteen years of constant bickering between them, was the first to forgive him, just as Percy will be the last.

George Weasley will never again see his twin's face light up when they actually get something to work. The two of them will never be able to make another product for the joke shop, something better than either of them could have made alone. Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes will never be as great as it could have been, not without Fred. The shop will always feel half-empty to Geroge now, no matter how packed with people it is.

Ron Weasley will never one-up his brother, will never get him back for years of teasing. He is a high-ranking Auror now, Harry Potter's best friend, and George's new partner at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. He can never escape Fred's shadow, however, no matter how fast he runs. Every time Ron, George, and often, Angelina create a new product, he knows that they are all thinking the same thing- _Fred could have done it better_. Ron and George will never be as good as Fred and George, and Ron will resent that for the rest of his life. He misses his older brother like hell though, and, while he'll never admit it, would give anything to be taunted by Fred just one more time.

Ginny Weasley will never spend another Christmas with Fred. He can never play the Parsnip Game again, and both Ginny and George know that the game is over, finished, although they never speak of it. There will always be too few brothers to buy presents for now, and perpetually one chair missing from the table, no matter how many seats are added for Weasley grandchildren. Her children don't understand why she is so sad on Christmas sometimes, even though she tries to explain it to them. For James, Albus, and Lily, Christmas brings presents, decorations, and holiday cheer. For Ginny, Christmas brings back memories which are hard to think about because they are so happy.

Angelina Johnson has long since moved on from her and Fred's lone date in sixth year at the Yule Ball. They were never meant to be more than friends, she supposes, but friends they were. He was one of her best ones, almost like the brother she never had. It hurts to know that she will never laugh with him again, see his famous smirk (outside of her dreams), or get to watch his face when she tells him she loves his twin.

Verity Dumont will never answer, "Yes!" to a question asked on bended knee, not from Fred. She will never kiss him in a white dress, in front of all their friends and family, will never kiss him again at all. Perhaps she never would have anyway. They were on-and-off-again, had such a hot and cold relationship, but she loved him and he loved her. She can't stand that the rest of her life will spent not knowing, full of what-might-have-beens.

Molly Weasley has never been a morbid person, but, like all mothers, in the back of her head she has always hoped that all her children will be able to attend her funeral. She doesn't need them to sing a special song or read a touching poem, but just to be alive, to outlive her. There is nothing worse than having to bury your own child- Molly has always believed that to be true all of her life, but now she knows it from experience.

Ginny Weasley had grown accustomed to being the last to do everything. It's a side effect of being the youngest of seven as well as the first girl born in the Weasley family for three generations. She'd never really liked it, but she'd accepted it. So it is very odd now, as she turns twenty-one, officially becoming an age that Fred never reached. She gets a job as a Chaser on the Holyhead Harpies, marries Harry, and has kids, realizing that at last she has done something before one of her brothers. She has grown up, and Fred never will. She always figured, as a little girl, that if she ever did succeed in not being last at anything, it'd be the best thing in the world. It's not.

George Weasley will never again be mistaken for Fred by anyone, not even if that person is on his left side. From now on, when his mother knits him a sweater for Christmas, there is no letter on it, because there is no need for one. George has two gaping holes now- one is where his right ear used to be, and the other is in his heart. No one can ever fill the latter- not Ron, Fred II, Roxanne, or even Angelina.

Fred's family and friends will find ways to live and laugh and love in their futures without him, because that's what he would have wanted. Even so, this is no happy ending, but a substitute, a second-best, because Fred is gone and with him are so many pieces of so many futures and so many pieces of so many hearts.

* * *

_The Parsnip Game is a reference to another of my fics, in which Fred, George, and Ginny play a game in which the object is to get rid of all ones parsnips every Christmas. I made up Verity's last name and her relationship with Fred, but it could have happened. I gave two for some people because I thought of two, and figured that there are hundreds of ways to miss someone. Please review and tell me what you think._

_-Julia_


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